Post navigation

Trump Times Entry 255 – Pardons for Everyone Trump

While the Donald’s looking into his authority to grant pardons to friends, family and himself seems a hopeful sign – after all, innocent people don’t need pardons – talk of presidential pardons sends a chill.

We’ve been here before. Back in my misspent youth, we let a criminal president walk away free – the beneficiary of a presidential pardon. Back then Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon for anything he may have done. Tricky Dicky was never charged with anything; there was no point. Ford gave him a preemptive get out of jail free card.

And Trump has the same authority. True, Nixon didn’t pardon any of his staff, so a few of them went to jail, but Trump clearly lacks Nixon’s ethics – so who knows? It’s not hard to imagine the Donald handing out wholesale pardons, firing anyone who objects and then whining about how the press is so unfair to him.

Yeah, and congress will just stand around with that stupid look on its collective face. Paul Ryan mouthing, “Why would we challenge a fellow Republican?” keeps coming to mind.

And congress is the only real check on Trump. We need to scare them into action or, better yet, replace them. But replacing representatives is long-term. Shit, for now we’re left with fighting through the bleakness that Trump casts.

We’ve faced two-hundred-fifty-five days since Trump and his Russian overlord took the election and we will endure over five hundred more before we can legitimately dethrone this illegitimate president. Nevertheless, the republic will endure.

Back during that misspent youth, I frequently felt the assassin’s bullet was the only way to real change – so chose to look away, I’m no assassin. Since then, the years have moderated me, but not the reasons for those feelings.